Peshat and Derash in Medieval Ashkenazic Exegesis

Catalog description

This course will study 11th 12th centuries northern French Jewish biblical commentaries, Rashi and Rashbam, with the goal of eliciting their programmatic methodological agendas in analyzing biblical texts and the interpretative criteria which they develop to guide them in their exegesis. As illustrative examples of this exegetical school of thought, the unique relationship between the commentaries of the grandfather and grandson, Rashi and Rashbam, will be the focus of analysis. Emphasis will be placed on their insights into the peshat of the biblical text, especially their literary analysis of the narrative and poetry of the Bible.